Roof boxes are well known and commercialised worldwide. Roof boxes comprise a container mountable to a roof area of a vehicle and are adapted to store luggage, cargo and/or other objects (e.g. sporting equipment such as skis and snowboards). Typically, the roof box is made up of a bottom section for mounting to the roof area of a vehicle and a top section movable relative to the bottom section for opening and closing the roof box. Roof boxes may be preferable to an open roof rack accessory holder since they protect the items stored inside from exposure to adverse weather and environmental conditions as well as provide robust protection against theft and vandalism.
There are a wide range of different styles, features and prices available although roof boxes have become very standardised in design. In particular, typical design features common to many designs include central locking, double sided opening, quick fit attachment from inside the roof box, the ability to fit a range of roof racks and various styling shapes.
One drawback noted above of roof box designs is that the roof box clamping assembly is achieved via one or more assemblies that can only be reached via the interior of the roof box. Drawbacks include having to remove the roof box contents in order to access the clamping assembly. Secondly, the clamping assembly when mounted on a vehicle can be difficult to reach, particularly if the vehicle has a relatively high ground clearance. A further issue of art designs is that it is not possible to adjust the position of the roof box on vehicle cross bars without having to access the interior of the roof box and loosen the entire box from the cross bars. A yet further issue is that it is not possible to adjust the position of the clamp assembly without needing to access the interior of the roof box.
It is acknowledged that the term ‘comprise’ or grammatical variations thereof may be attributed with either an exclusive or an inclusive meaning. For the purpose of this specification, and unless otherwise noted, the term ‘comprise’ shall have an inclusive meaning—i.e. that it will be taken to mean an inclusion of not only the listed components it directly references, but also other non-specified components or elements.
Further aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the ensuing description that is given by way of example only.